Wednesday, May 23, 2007

So, continuing on my 'try new paints' quest I finally tried the colors from my Rackham Color paint set I bought ages ago; and I have to say, I'm not liking them.

I like different paint lines, I think it keeps things interesting within the realm of painting and allows a broader range of colors to exist and wait to be used in combination with other paints from other ranges. However, I found Rackham Color to fall behind such paint lines as Citadel, or P3.

Rackham Color's paints are much thicker than any other paint line I've seen (even GW's Foundation line), which can usually be solved by adding water. What seemed like a bucket of water later, I had finally got the paint on my palatte to be of a fine consistancy only to see that it still goes on pretty streaky. Not to mention that when it dries it looks a bit dull. Now I'm not looking for a gloss, but the pigment just doesn't seem to stand out; and with fantasy and science-fiction models, that's what I want.

Unfortunately the paints are too vibrant for historical games, leaving Rackham Color in some sort of limbo, destined to never truly fit either genre. I thought I'd give the paint another shot, by adding less water (for whatever reason), and found that hardly anything changed. More water just made the paints, well, watery; and left me with some terrible coverage.

One thing I do like about these paints is the eye-dropper lids which can be removed from the pot should you not find eye-droppers to your liking (strange, but I've heard that complaint about Vallejo before). Personally, I think eye-droppers are brilliant and thus I don't remove the lids from the Rackham Paints. Yet, I even have a problem with the bottles, for they are in a cube shape and make for some awkward squeezing. I would have much rather preferred they keep the round design that Citadel used to use, and P3 does; or use the Vallejo skinny-bottle design (but keep those removable eye-dropper lids).

Overall, I'm not psyched about these paints, and would not recommend these to any painter. What would I recommend? P3, of course. P3 is my new favorite brand of paint, and I can't wait to flesh out my collection with the rest of the range they released. I'm pretty sure I did a P3 review somewhere on this blog, so check that out. Otherwise, I'm gone.

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P.S. I've bought and finished building, basing, and priming my Dark Age models and will start working on them on the 28th of June, after my Warhammer Dwarfs are completed. Strategies is having a huge Dwarf battle, where a fellow gamer and I will bring out a whopping 10,000+ points of Dwarfs, and take on all comers. I'm gonna be bringing out the White Dwarf, and hopefully get some pictures for this blog.

P.P.S. I'm also doing a cowboy gang for Warhammer Historicals Old West game, using Black Scorpion Miniatures (which are flipping fantastic). To paint them I'll be using a mix of Citadel and P3 paints, and I'll post pictures as they develop.